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While the descriptive term “Celtic” is commonly used to describe a tribal culture emerging in Ireland and Scotland and some parts of Europe, the idea that there was a single widespread tribal group which can be labeled as Celtic has been discredited. In fact, the earliest mention of any group with such a name was by the Greek historian Hecataeus in 517 BC, who wrote about a Germanic tribe he referred to as Keltoi. The influence of this pagan culture apparently was by far the most dominant in the region because their language and culture spread to other tribal groups until use of the language and acceptance of its spiritual tenets was widespread.

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The descendents of these people living currently in Ireland and Scotland attribute their source to the city of ancient city-state of Miletus in modern day Turkey. Miletus itself was supposedly established originally by inhabitants of Crete—the ancient Minoans who seeded Greece itself with its spiritual and cultural foundation. And some modern archeologists point to Persia as the source of the ancient Minoan culture.

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However, current research does not suggest a widespread migration of “Celtic” peoples and that the term is misleading, no more (or less) meaningful than "Western". Rather than being a common racial stock, the inhabitants of Britain and Ireland became Celticized by the time of the Roman arrival, mainly through spread of culture rather than a movement of people.

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Nevertheless, the culture did bring a distinctive spiritual and political character to the region. This was a warrior culture, accompanied by a sacerdotal class of mystical wizard-like counselors termed Druids, who brought order into the system of kings and clashes between tribal groups. Kings were required to accept guidance from their Druid counselors, and their Druid counselors had to perform their Kings’ requests. The two were thus bound together and ruled together. At the same time, there is clear evidence that this system was primarily tribal. Druids of one tribe fought beside their King against other tribes, whose King and Druid also stood together. Druids provided magical support in battle for the warriors going to battle.

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Although certainly not homogeneous in ability or application, the Druids were organized, having teaching centers located in the forests, and often cooperated in guiding others into the craft. Among the skills attributed to these forest sages were wisdom teachers, philosophy, law makers, judges, musicians, bards, doctors, priests, soothsayers, seers, prophets, oracles, shape shifters, and weather witches. They seemed to combine the talents of the earlier ages of the shaman with the agrarian age’s needs for priestly diviners and wisdom keepers.

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The Celtic culture was a mythic one, in that their history was recorded in the form of epic poems describing battles among men and their gods. The gods, and there were several, guided, and men could only follow and the Druids were the intermediaries. Death was a fact of life, but as in Scandinavian cultures, death in battle was glorified; heroes went not to an Underworld but to a veiled dimension alongside ordinary reality where the Tuatha de Danaan lived in the burial mounds scattered across the land.

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The pagan gods of this culture were similar in some ways to the gods of the Romans, with a Jupiter-like Sky God named the Dagda; a Mars-like Warrior god of the Tuatha de Danaan who were the paired gods named Nuada (King of the Tuatha de Danaan) and the Ogma or Ogmios (who was a Hercules-like warrior); a Celtic Minerva-like goddess of three faces called Brigid; a Mercury or Hermes-like god named Lugh; and select other gods and goddesses, including the Stag-headed god, Cernunnos. The Little People of Faery also were a part of the mythology of these people.

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With the coming of the Romans to Great Britain however, the Celtic culture deteriorated rapidly. Although the Romans did not forbid the worship of the pagan gods or the practice of local religions, they did forbid the teaching of the Druidic arts and closed the colleges where the culture could be safely learned. The Romans replaced the system of local Kings and Druids with a system of Roman Administrators, but made all locals eligible for Roman citizenship. This move effectively brought about the end of the Celtic warrior culture and political structure. And third, the Catholic Church began converting pagans to Christianity, using the sword when necessary. The measure of the effectiveness of the combined Roman and Catholic de-culturalization effort was that Druids were among the first converted to Christianity, coming within the Church system where they continued to provide the spiritual rituals and intermediary services for the people to their Roman administrators. Finally, Druids steadfastly adhered to the ancient shamanic practice of an oral teaching tradition, refusing to write their knowledge down. As a result, by the third or fourth century A.D., the tradition of druidism had dwindled to a shade of its previous prowess.

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In essence, the Druidic period was a colorful and powerful period in the history of the Celt language-speaking peoples, but it was relatively short-lived. Today, many scholars and enthusiast are attempting to bring this lost wisdom back. To many, this appears to be a romantic affection. But is it? Can the wisdom of the Druids be retrieved from the Land, and those other dimensions where the Tuatha de Danaan yet reign? Are the ancient pagan gods still here, waiting for the fickleness of Men to abide? Are there lost records or druidic centers hidden from modern eyes yet operating in the world?